Adria: SRT race report

SRT-duo Maassen-Bouchut retain lead in FIA GT
ADRIA. For SRT the relatively quiet period came to an end this weekend. The
third race of the FIA GT-championship at Adria (Italy) was on the agenda.
And as leaders in the championship SRT travelled...

SRT-duo Maassen-Bouchut retain lead in FIA GT

ADRIA. For SRT the relatively quiet period came to an end this weekend. The
third race of the FIA GT-championship at Adria (Italy) was on the agenda.
And as leaders in the championship SRT travelled on down to this short and
sinuous Adria circuit, in the close vicinity of Venice, with no less than a
50 kilo success ballast in the Corvette C6.R. Xavier Maassen and Christophe
Bouchut did more than their share of the work and finally the duo finished
as fourth and the SRT drivers remain leader in the championship.
For Patrick Selleslagh's team another busy period is looking down on them,
with no less than three races over three consecutive weekends. Next weekend
the team will be competing in the fourth meeting of the French GT-
championship at Val de Vienne.

Free practice ran smoothly for SRT and the team concentrated on the
Corvette's set-up. "Adria is exceptionally different; in fact the complete
opposite from Monza", Patrick Selleslagh explains. "It is a short and
sinuous circuit, whereas Monza is an extremely fast track On top of that
we have 50 kilos of ballast to deal with, the outcome of our victory in
Monza. Not only does ballast represent weight but is also has quite an
impact on the car's set-up, tyre wear, the brakes and so forth. So lots of
work, and those 160 minutes of free practice are more than welcome."

Qualifying went reasonably well, with a fifth place for Christophe Bouchut,
a mere few tenths off pole. "However after the qualifying sessions it
appeared that I had crossed the white line in the 'S' just after the
pitlane, and we lost our fastest time", the fast Frenchman explained. But
an amalgam of penalties and sanctions resulted in the SRT Corvette still
finally being allowed to start .from fifth spot on the grid.

The French-Dutch duo in the SRT Corvette had a trouble free race, and after
two hours of intense racing on a boiling hot circuit Maassen and Bouchut
took the chequered flag in fourth place.

Patrick Selleslagh: "We knew that our ballast wouldn't play to our
advantage and therefore opted for a somewhat more conservative approach,
and a fifth, fourth place was our target. Xavier and Christophe drove a
perfect and highly sensible race opting to go for the points. The outcome
is that we can now add five units to our score, making a total of twenty
points, and we're still up front in the championship. I would never have
dreamt that SRT would be heading off for the fourth race of the
championship as leaders. I secretly hope that we're still in the lead after
the Oschersleben round, because to be able to come on down to Spa and the
24 Hours as leaders would be truly something unhoped-for."

SRT is now preparing for the fourth meeting of the French GT-championship
in Val de Vienne.